06May14

US-made missiles reportedly in hands of Islamist fighters in Syria

While the opposition Syrian National Coalition, headed by Ahmad Jarba, has
been meeting with US officials this week in Washington in an effort to secure
further support, including more funding and additional antitank and antiaircraft
weapons, news from Syria indicates that some advanced US-made weapons
are already being used in various Syrian provinces by rebel fighters.

Over the past few weeks, media reports have stressed that US officials have
begun a "pilot program" of providing small quantities of advanced weapons,
including TOW missiles, to vetted "moderate" groups, and specifically the
Harakat Hazm, which fights in a newly formed coalition called the Southern
Front.

As we at LWJ have pointed out, however, alliances and accommodations
between the so-called 'moderate' rebel groups and the Islamists have made it
very difficult for outside backers of the Syrian opposition to ensure that
weapons and other aid provided does not end up in the hands of the Islamists,
who dominate the battlefields.

Yesterday the opposition activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
(SOHR) reported that the Islamic Front, a large coalition of mainly Islamist
fighting groups, was using US TOW missiles in clashes in Aleppo against the
forces of President Bashar al Assad and allies. According to SOHR, the
Islamic Front (which it refers to as "Islamic battalions") employed the weapons
in Aleppo's Al Sheik Najjar area and near Al Brej, and possibly near the air
force intelligence building in Al Zahraa district as well.

SOHR's report yesterday also noted that the Islamic Front was joined by the Al
Nusrah Front and Jaysh al Muhajireen wal Ansar in some of the Aleppo
clashes. Al Nusrah, which is al Qaeda's official Syrian affiliate, regularly pairs
up with the Islamic Front in fighting throughout the country. The Jaysh al
Muhajireen wal Ansar, or Emigrants' Army, is a Chechen-led unit of mainly
non-Syrians that frequently spearheads the battles of the Islamist groups.

In another recent development illustrating the cooperation, if not collaboration,
that exists between Islamist forces such as al Qaeda's Al Nusrah Front and the
"moderate" forces linked to the Syrian National Coalition's Free Syrian Army,
SOHR reported yesterday that 52 groups in the southern province of Deraa
had agreed to allow Al Nusrah to establish checkpoints in their zones. They
also agreed to give Al Nusrah a respite to decide the fate of a key FSA
commander and several other commanders seized by the terrorist group a few
days before.

Those 52 groups are likely the 50-odd units in the recently formed Southern
Front, which, according to Aron Lund at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, is probably in essence an organization created by foreign
officials in order to present an acceptable face for the insurgency in the south.

So far this week the US has responded to the Syrian National Coalition's
appeals by upgrading its US mission status from informal to formal, and by
promising to give a further $27 million in nonlethal aid to the opposition,
bringing the total so far to $278 million. In addition, Najib Al Ghadban, the
SNC's representative in Washington, told Asharq Al-Awsat: "During Jarba's
visit to Washington US officials informed opposition leaders that moderate
rebel battalions will be provided with military support by the US
administration."

As Syrian opposition elements and other allies press the US for further
engagement, including the commitment of lethal weapons, in their cause, the
appearance of US-supplied weapons in the hands of Islamist groups such as
the Islamic Front, which regularly supports Al Nusrah, should be a major cause
for concern.

[Source: By Lisa Lundquist, Threat Matrix, The Long War Journal, 06May14]

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